The fourth quarter of the year is usually the time when retailers go all out to capture the holiday shopping crowd before year end closing. So how big can it possibly get?
Singles Day Keeps Getting Bigger
For China, the biggest online shopping day of the year falls on 11th November, known as Singles Day.
Last year’s Singles Day 2016 smashed sales records when it brought in a total of $17.8 billion in 24 hours. Talk about raining money!
AliPay which is the Chinese equivalent of PayPal processed more than a billion transactions on that day alone while Alibaba’s logistics arms Cainao helped deliver 657 million packages!
The whole of China and the surrounding region went online shopping that day with Jack Ma laughing all the way to the bank!
But What About Black Friday And Cyber Monday?
To put things in perspective, last year’s Black Friday sales brought in $3.34 billion. Mobile accounted for $1.2 billion out of the $3.34 billion showing a 33% increase compared to the year before.
Cyber Monday sales netted in $3.45 billion with $1.07 billion done via mobile shopping.
Not even HALF of what Singles Day brought in within 24 hours.
Will Black Friday 2017 exceed last year’s records? Or will Cyber Monday 2017 blow everyone’s expectations?
Mobile Shopping Continues To Rise
What we can notice clearly is that more and more consumers have been using their mobiles to buy online.
Mobile shopping alone accounted for 82% of sales for Singles Day. That’s about $14.6 billion worth of sales transactions made via mobile in one day alone!
The Chinese would have made the mobile shopping experience buttery smooth to be able to chalk up those figures. It also shows the spending power of the Chinese.
Let’s not forget the huge amount of logistics and integrated courier and transportation service involved to move $17.8 billion worth of goods within a few days after the dust settles! Talk about efficiency.
Is Your Site’s Mobile Shopping Experience Ready For The Holiday Crowd?
This year, Black Friday falls on 24th November 2017 for the long Thanksgiving weekend.
Singles Day 2017 precedes Black Friday on 11th November 2017 which given the amazing track record they’ve been experiencing looks like it’ll get even bigger.
So is your site ready for the holiday shopping crowd?
Is Your Site Mobile Friendly And Responsive?
Some key questions to think about.
Is your site mobile friendly and responsive? Not sure?
Check with Google’s Mobile Friendly Test.
If it isn’t, let us know and we can help move your existing site to our FREE mobile friendly and responsive templates for existing merchants.
If you’re using a different ecommerce platform that’s not mobile friendly, we can migrate your site over and make it mobile friendly and responsive for a small fee.
When it comes to mobile shopping, a mobile friendly and responsive site makes it easier and faster for visitors to select your products and checkout.
Is Your Site’s Checkout A Turn Off?
Having a mobile friendly and responsive site doesn’t guarantee sales.
Especially if your mobile checkout process looks like multiple pages for visitors to fill up on their mobile screens.
Coupled with a lag in data connection speed or time outs will definitely result in a lot of abandoned carts.
Check your mobile checkout process to ensure customers only have to fill the necessary information on one page to complete their purchase.
It needs to look and feel easy and fast to use.
If you need help with your mobile checkout, please contact us as well.
Got Your Special Offers Ready?
People love to snag a good bargain but what’s the point if it’s out of stock or the item they want does not have the color, size or type that they want to buy?
Frustrating right?
We have a Notify Me When Stock Becomes Available feature which allows customers to enter their details so the moment stock returns, you’ll be able to notify them knowing that they wanted to purchase the item.
It’s a good initiative to communicate as quickly as possible with the customer. Let them know when stock will be back and if you can maintain the same special pricing offer, am sure they’ll return to complete the purchase.
Time is ticking. Make the most of it.
So whatever special offers that you’re planning to throw out, make sure you have a backup plan for it if it runs out of stock as you want the same customers to come back to buy from you.
WhatsApp Mobile Share Feature
This feature makes it EASY for anyone who wants to share your product or site with their Whatsapp contacts.
Kind of like when you find something AMAZING and you can’t wait to share it with your friends via Whatsapp.
If you need this activated for your store, click here to find out how to do it.
It’s FREE.
The Rundown
Regardless on whether you’re targeting the holiday shopping crowd or not, your site needs to be mobile friendly and responsive coupled with a smooth and fast mobile checkout.
As more consumers embrace mobile shopping, you’ll need to make sure that your site is both appealing on mobile and provides a good shopping experience to consumers.
I was searching for something the other day on my friend’s iPhone and I seriously thought that I needed a pair of glasses (and I am pretty sure I have perfect vision!). Why? Because that online store (won’t mention names) does not have a mobile optimized site! What a bummer! Took ages for me to look for a particular product and I finally gave up.